Judges 5:1-2 – What Are You Offering?
(1) Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,
(2) Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.
In chapter five, Deborah and Barak praise God for His delivering Israel in chapter four. Notice, the first thing they did was praise to praise God for His deliverance! It is always important to remember that it is God who gives us victory in anything that we do, and it is God who deserves the praise, not us. Also, notice why they were praising God: “for the avenging of Israel”. There was work that needed to be done! Israel was up against a large army in a discouraging situation (even Barak didn’t want to go to battle without Deborah with him)! Think about your life. Is there work that needs to be done? IS there something you know you need to improve in your life? Is there an opportunity that you can seize to love like Jesus did? Maybe it’s people in your school, your family, your friends, or people in church that need someone to show them Christ. There’s all kind of work that needs doing, but what is our responsibility?
We ought to do what these people did! They “willingly offered themselves.” These people, 10,000 of them, gave of themselves for the cause. And God delivered them! Don’t wait around for someone else to do something that you can do. Offer yourself to God as His servant and act obediently. It’s all about yielding to God. Notice, it doesn’t say that the people got together and showed Sisera who’s boss (although they did), but it says that they “willingly offered themselves.” What are you offering? there’s plenty of work to do, but are you simply giving what you have (time, money, help), or are you offering yourself? Are you available for God to use you? And, if you are, are you doing it willingly?
Life Step: Think about it…
What in your life is an opportunity that you can use to glorify God? Pray and ask God to show you what He can use YOU to do.
Most importantly, offer yourself to whatever God has for you to do. No matter how small, or how impossible, it may seem. Don’t hold anything back from Him, but give yourself wholly to Him.
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
Hey guys, Cody Holland is going to be doing the blog for a while. I really like what he wrote here.
I think at the end of the day that God is most pleased with our faith, and when we willing offer ourselves to God we are telling Him that we trust Him enough to obey Him and to do what He wants us to do!
Deborah, Barak, and the people they lead had others who were depending on them. If they didn’t trust God enough to go into battle, there would have been consequences.
It’s the same with us. When we trust God and offer ourselves to Him, or when we forget God and do our own thing- either way- we affect and influence those around us.
Oh cool Cody did a really good job!
What I think I could offer is setting a Godly example to my new basketball team wich could lead to leading them to Christ or coming to church.
That’s a great idea Blake. I can’t wait to come to your games this summer! Woohoo!
This is definitely something I need to work on, offering myself to God. Most of the time I say “Okay God, I’ll do whatever you want me to do.” then when it gets hard or scary I turn around and say nevermind! & that’s a bad habit to get into. I need to be committed to God 100% like Deborah and Barak! They’re such good examples of people who willingly offered themselves to God. & not only that, I love how the first thing they did was praise God after He delivered them! Deborah and Barak knew it wasn’t them, but God working through them. I hope I can be like that someday 🙂